Books - A Post Just for Kevin

Staying away from books on the top of my list, like "The Definitive Guide to SQL Server Performance Optimization" (truly a nail biter, I loved it), "The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling" (your dad would enjoy it more than you) and Franzen's "The Corrections", might I suggest one of the following:

• "War for the Oaks" - Emma Bull - magic realism in the Twin Cities
• "Perdido Street Station" - China Mieville (if you liked The Scar, you'll like it)
• "Revelation Space" by Alastair Reynolds (part of a [long] series, however, and the rest of the series isn't as good) - sci fi
• "Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America" - Dan Savage - Dan tries to break the seven deadly sins (non fiction)
• Anything by Connie Willis, but "Doomsday Book" was particularly good - sci fi, mostly
• "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter - probably the only Baxter book you'll need or want to read, the rest just aren't that different, or they're bad - sci fi
• "Use of Weapons" by Iain Banks. He's a little scary - I'm not sure I'd like a tour of his brain. - sci fi
• Most of Vernor Vinge's books - friendly sci fi
• Swords Trilogy by Michael Moorcock - but I'm going to bet you've read that - fantasy
• Joe Haldeman writes good sci fi ("The Forever War", etc.)
• Neil Gaiman's books are good as well - more fantasy than anything else (magical realism) - and he writes with Terry Pratchett now and then. "American Gods" is great.
• James Morrow books are good - he's like Christopher Moore, but more religious and a bit more serious (he's trying to make a point) - "Bible Stories for Adults" is enjoyable, and so is "Towing Jehovah" (former is short stories)
• Old Neal Stephenson, before he got wordy (I like the new stuff, I just liked the old stuff better) - scifi
• Paradise War series by Stephen Lawhead (should take you a day per book) - fantasy
• Anything by Philip K. Dick or Jorge Luis Borges - sort of sci fi

Do NOT read:

• "Popcorn Report, The: The Future of Your Co., World, Life " - Faith Popcorn
• "Forlorn Hope, The" - David Drake
• "Distributed Applications with Visual Interdev 6.0: for Exam 70-152" - Microsoft
• "Angels & Demons" - Dan Brown
• "Dune: House Atreides" - Herbert, Brian and Kevin J. Anderson
• Vampire$ - Steakley, John
• "Worldwar: in the Balance" - Turtledove, Harry